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Its been a few years since this thread started. the only ZipZaps i can find are on eBay for way too much money. Does anyone know where i can find fairly priced ones? Or a different type of RC car with a similar style of transmitter/reciever board? I bought the newer small RC car from radio shack the other day but the boards are entirely different. I have pretty much 0 experience with circuitry and wires so I was hoping I could find something that this tutorial would work on.

I have it all built up but I have a question about soldering the switches to the control pads and in the pictures all of the soldering is under the glue.

I'm pretty sure I did it correct (in concept) but the buttons didn't end up working. I just want to see if I'm just terrible at soldering or if I'm terrible at reading directions.

It is one switch per pad right? Like red button for top pad and black button for bottom pad? Or is it like a half and half thing? I'm as electronically inclined as a koala bear and I just want to make sure I'm doing it right.

Okay from reading through this thread I understand that the controller board is removed out of the servo. But, if you are buying a servo that has a 90 degree control board in it, is it necessary to remove it? Can't you splice into the controller board with the board out of the rc?

Quick question, I have a little remote control helicopter that I was thinking of dissecting to try this out. The helicopter is rechargeable and gets hooked up to the remote for charging. Will this potentially be an issue or would it be possible to hook up a battery pack to it when it is apart?

if you have to point the remote at it, yes its a light activated control. cat paw, they just want to help.
If its a radio remote it should say the radio frequency like 27mhz or something on the controller.
I got my mini car at Bi-mart.

SON OF A! I think I fried something on the RC car part...saw a bright light, then some smoke and there is a burn mark on the outside of some of the hot glue. The issue appears to be a drop of solder dripped on the board connecting multiple points so when i tried it for the first time....boom!

well i was able to get a little 7 buck car from radio shack a few minutes before they closed tonight and made sure not to solder over the board! It works! This tutorial was a huge help, I would not have been able to built it without it! Thanks TD2253!

You'd just need to desolder those tactile switches and wire up your SPST's. You'll want to look at the trace to see which hole is for your positive lead. The back picture is really blurry, so I can't see to help you out there, unless you can get a better image?

here are some pictures through an actual camera and not the ipod, hope they work, it was hard to not get a glare on it.

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Megatron said:

post what you bought..name make

I have already thrown out the reminder parts and box. It came in a plastic clear globe from radio shack. It was not on their website when I looked because the cheapest one they had online was 11 and this was 7 in store and the last one they had in stock.

I work part time for Radio Shack and as mentioned above the zip zap racer cars are hard to come by these days. I did however find another mini rc car sold there that might fit the bill. They are call atomic racers. Currently on clearance and will probably be out of stock soon as well. But you might be able to pick one up. The cost around $7. The tutorial above should still hold true for this type of rc with a few minor differences. The transmitter is different but still small and the receiver portion is different as well, but if you examine the atomic racer and compare it with the tutorial, you should be able to figure it out. I have purchased two of them and I am going to try it out tomorrow and see if it work. Hope this helps anyone having a hard time locating a zip zap racer.

I just finished testing out the Radio Shack Atomic Racer and it works great. If you cannot find the zip zap mini RC, these will work too, They are currently on clearance for about $8.00 at Radio Shack.

I just finished testing out the Radio Shack Atomic Racer and it works great. If you cannot find the zip zap mini RC, these will work too, They are currently on clearance for about $8.00 at Radio Shack.